Impressive, for a Padawan
by Constantlyconsciouslyaware13
Summary: No longer a oneshot story about Rev's capture, this is a bit of a prequel before they sent the mind wiped sith lord off into the insanity of kotor 1. all is not smooth sailing for bastila and her charge... R&R please!
1. Revan's Retrieval

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Star Wars. Happy now?

**A/N: **Well, hey there, everyone! This is just another random KotOR piece I thought up, and (duh) am posting because I like to! Ok, so this is just a shot of what might have happened aboard Revan's flagship. Enjoy!

-LFK

_**Aboard the Twisted Dream…**_

"Now, we all of us know the plan, right?" Bastila Shan finished in a hush whisper as she looked into the grim faces of her small task force. "If anything should go wrong, we die and the Republic dies with us. We cannot fail!"

"Oh ease up, Basi!" Tal Ronan, an easygoing Guardian, hefted his saber hilt as he flashed his trademark grin. "Revan doesn't stand a chance against us!"

"Shut up, idiot!" Tay, Tal's twin brother, punched him lightly in the shoulder before freezing under Bastila's cold glare.

"We don't have time for jokes," she said as she peaked over the pile of canisters that shielded the three Jedi and their five-man unit of Republic Marines. "When I give the signal, go!" Bastila closed her eyes and focused a tiny bit of her Battle Meditation upon the flagship _Twisted Dream_, praying to the Force that she would go undetected by the dark presence on the bridge. In her mind's eye, the whole of the ship became a grid full of floating red dots and the tiny lump of green that represented her group. Using a tiny 'push' upon a few select, she laid the path to the bridge open.

"Go!" she and the other Jedi ignited their sabers with that trademark hiss and charged out of hiding, cutting down two unwary soldiers as they ran through the blast doors guarding the hangar and out into the bowels of the ship.

Five minutes later, though it felt like a year to the grim faced Jedi, Bastila, the Ronan twins, and their one remaining marine stood at the doors to the bridge. Behind them, they could hear the uproar as the sith troopers discovered their slain brethren.

"Just through here!" Bastila gasped, as she slumped down against the durasteel doors. Her head pounded from the strain of controlling so many individual minds with her Battle Meditation for so long, and the blaster burns on her arms and legs made her hiss with pain every time her robes brushed across them.

"It won't take but a moment!" normally exuberant Tal was serious as a heart attack as he and his brother hacked into the two terminals on either side of the door, a security measure among many that Revan was known for.

Finally, the blast door opened onto the bridge, and the four Republic fighters were met face to face with the Dark Lord of the Sith herself, Revan. Bastila and the others walked onto the runway slowly, ignored by the technicians in the two trenches on either side.

"'Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly'." Revan's voice was androgynous through the sith mask that covered her face, sultry and yet menacing at the same time. "Welcome to my parlor, old friend. I trust my soldiers were most accommodating in escorting you here?" As the dark robed woman spoke, the air to her left and right shimmered. Two Dark Jedi appeared, crimson sabers lit and pale faces frozen in a mockery of a grin.

"Enough with the games, Revan!" Tal, hotheaded Tal, cried as he ignited his blue saber, "we're here to take you in!" Tay, seeing the direction the encounter was going, lit his green saber a heartbeat later and stepped up beside his brother, both shielding Bastila as she stood glaring at Revan.

"Is this the best the Order could offer?" Revan sighed as she turned back to the view port, long robes folding gracefully around her slim form. "Has the Republic become no stronger these last six years, tempered by the fires of war?" she seemed to be speaking half to herself, absentmindedly and unfocused. Outside the Twisted Dream, Sith interceptors flew circles around the outdated Republic cruisers and Vipers, sending brave men and women to their death's in soundless balls of fire.

"We'll show you how strong we've become!" Tal cried as he launched himself into the air and straight towards Revan's unguarded back. Tay followed and was instantly engaged by the Dark Jedi, green light melding with red in flashed across the steel walls.

"Tay! Tal! No!" Bastila cried, but it was too late. Just as Tal was approaching Revan, the Dark Lord whirled and calmly lifted her hand. Tal felt the Force surge in the woman in front of him and then gasped as an invisible fist cut off his windpipe.

"I...will not...lose to you!" he gasped out as he kicked weakly, frantically trying to break her hold with his own Force powers, but to no avail.

"Lose?" Revan asked, voice cold as she stared into the boy's eyes through the eyeholes in her mask. Her hand closed into a fist, accompanied by a sharp crack of bone. "All of us have been lost for a long, long time."

Tay, holding his own amongst the Dark Jedi, felt his brother become one with the Force and cried out in rage. "No, Tal! Tal!" his aura became suffused in red to the eyes of the Force users on the bridge, and he cut down one of his opponents with murderous rage. "Revan! I'll kill you for this! I'll kill you for my brother!" suddenly, pain exploded in his chest, and he looked down into the glare of a red beam of light. Confusion crossed his youthful features as he glanced from the saber protruding from his chest, to its grinning wielder, to Bastila's horrified gaze. The young Jedi slid to the ground without a word and was gone.

"There is no death," Bastila murmured as she ignited her single yellow saber and fell into the Shien stance, beckoning the Dark Jedi forward as Revan seemingly ignored the conflict taking place behind her, "There is the Force!" she met the Dark Jedi's attack with an overhead parry and then a quick riposte that scored a burning weld across the man's right shoulder. The enemy Force user switched hands as his right arm fell useless beside him and rushed Bastila with a flurry of powerful hits that came from all sides, forcing the young woman to duck and jump frantically.

Finally, Bastila saw her opening and 'pushed' with her mind, causing the Dark Jedi to stumble back. As the man fought to reorient himself, Bastila flipped over his shoulder and slashed as she came down on the other side, blade cutting through flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter.

"Impressive," Revan stated as she turned from the view port and back to the younger woman. "Most impressive, for a padawan."

Bastila stiffened at the slight and said, "You cannot win, Revan! Your wars have given me the strength needed to bring you down!"

"Very well then," Revan ignited her deep crimson saber with a snap-hiss and fell into the stance only accomplished masters could perform in battle, Niman. "Come, face me if you dare!" she whirled her saber in salute and then settled it so the point was parallel to the floor, hilt grasped in two hands over her left shoulder.

Suddenly, Bastila felt a surge in the Force, and saw the turbolasers of the Sith ship across from the _'Dream_ fire at the bridge.

"That bastard!" Revan snarled angrily, black cloak whirling as she turned to glare at the attacking ally. "When I get my hands on you, Malak, you'll wish you had never been whelped by your mother!" And then a flash of white light engulfed the bridge, currents of electricity arching into the air from damaged computer banks and terminals.

When Bastila could see again, she stumbled to her feet, ignoring the blood coursing down her leg, and scrambled to the crumpled black form in the middle of the walkway.

"Revan…" she whispered as she cradled the woman in her lap, feeling her life slip away into the stream of the Living Force. "No, I can't let you die!" in that moment, she disregarded the woman who had slain many of her friends, as well as billions across the Galaxy, and instead saw the knight who had been a positive force in her early childhood among the Jedi; She saw the girl who had shown her around the temple when she was but a scared newcomer; the girl who had welcomed her with open arms into her close nit group of friends, the most promising students of the academy; the girl who had helped her without asking anything in return.

Concentrating her last vestiges of strength, Bastila called upon the Force to heal the shattered woman in her arms. Bit by bit, she could feel the broken tissue knitting together, and bones crackling and snapping back to their proper positions. Yet still, even as her body healed, Bastila could sense no movement in Revan's synapses- no thoughts, brainwaves, or even basic recognition of stimuli both internal and external. She delved further until, not realizing what she'd done, she forced a link with Revan's mind.

_Where are you? Can you hear me?_ A thousand images and feelings swamped her in a split second, and yet there was no sense of identity, no soul claiming said thoughts as "mine".

"What're you doing?" Bastila glanced up in surprise, focus broken, as Officer Nolan, the last remaining marine, knelt beside her, blaster rifle in hand. "This place is going to go down any second! We need to get outta here!"

"Not without her!" Bastila cried over the sounds of destruction. At the apparent death of their leader, the self-serving Sith had abandoned their stations and began to stream to the escape pods and shuttle bays, hoping to be picked up by the other ships in their fleet.

"Fine!" Nolan picked the broken dark lord up in a fireman's hold and shoved his blaster into Bastila's hands. "Can you handle that?" she nodded, and then they were off in a race against time towards the fighter bays.

Nolan opened the canopy of one of the Sith quad-interceptors, a ship built for a team of four, and dropped his burden into one of the seats before helping Bastila in and dropping in himself.

"Can you fly one of these?" Bastila cried as the canopy closed and the systems powered on.

"All of us receive basic flight training at the academy!" Nolan replied as he ran through the checklist as fast as he could. "I can fly well enough to get us the hell outta here!"

"Then get to it!" she screamed as blaster fire blazed around them and sparked against the shielding. She hurriedly typed in universally recognized Republic transponder codes into the computer comm unit and then braced herself as the fighter rocketed out of there.

"We did it!" Nolan whooped as they flew on the outskirts of the battlefield.

"But at what cost?" Bastila murmured as she stared down at the masked woman in front of her and felt the inanimate presence that suddenly appeared in the back of her mind. "Was it all worth it?"

A/N: Well, did everyone enjoy it? If I get enough reviews, then I'll continue the storyline as planned. This is just a tidbit I cut from my story to get some "OKs" and what not. Thanks for reading! 

-LFK


	2. Remnants of Revan

**Disclaimer:** Star Wars is the property of Lucas Arts, and, as such, definitely not mine

**A/N:** I thought this story would be a one-shot, but the stupid thing kept haunting me while trying to write other stuff, so here's chapter two of the fic that's holding me hostage. Help!

_**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, One year later….**_

One long, hectic year had passed since Revan's capture, and it seemed like the Galaxy was no less worse off than it had been while the former Dark Lord was in power. Malak, her onetime apprentice, had picked up where she left off weeks after her supposed death, and the Republic was drenched in the blood of their soldiers.

The only place seemingly unaffected by the fires of war was the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, a peaceful center of learning for those of the Order who stayed behind when Revan led her great crusade against the Mandalorians three years ago. Never in a million years would one have thought that that was where the Dark Lady of the Sith was residing now.

Three weeks had passed since Bastila Shan was given the duty of reprogramming Revan's mind, and the young woman had yet to make any progress. Scores of datapads littered the floor of the scarcely furnished suite she shared with the former Dark Lord, as well as the toys and gadgets of a young child. Besides the equipment monitoring Revan's actions at all times, Bastila installed a small cot as well as a desk and chair to make the cell like room more livable.

Now, the young Jedi was sitting up late into the night in the uncomfortable synth-wood chair, datapad in hand and a pile at her feet.

"Hmm, what about this one, Revan? Kassandra Rahl, mercenary smuggler killed in action by the Sith while attempting to smuggle slaves to freedom." Bastila shifted to a more comfortable position in the chair as she spoke, waiting to see if the older woman would respond.

Revan glanced up from her pillow fort on the floor and grinned happily, a look of childish innocence on her face and blankness in her eyes. She burbled a few unintelligible words in Bastila's general direction and then went back to the dolls she was playing with on the floor, the younger woman already forgotten.

Bastila smiled sadly and went back to her work with new determination. She _would_ restore Revan, if not to her old self, a new personality that allowed her to function and live in the galaxy that she had created.

When the remnants from the strike team on the _Twisted Dream_ had returned to the Republic flagship _Valor_ with an unconscious Revan in hand, the Jedi Council had rejoiced in the success of their gamble. They had the strongest Jedi of the age back in their hands, and there wasn't a single master who didn't believe they wouldn't be able to bring their stray lamb back into the fold. When it was revealed that Revan suffered irreparable brain damage, the Council had lost hope in what had been viewed as their last barrier against Malak's fury.

In the months that Revan's broken body spent in a bacta tank, the Jedi watched in amazement as her brain repaired itself, and she regained function where the doctors thought she would never have it again.

Unfortunately, the progress was far less than complete, and, though the neurologists saw evidence of higher function and thought processes, Revan's mind appeared to be that of a four-year-old child without the ability to speak in clear sentences. The doctors diagnosed her with Autism, a developmental disability thought to have been removed from the human genetic code eons ago, and recommended that the Jedi give her a full time keeper and therapist.

All of that had taken place a little less than a year ago, and Revan had come a long way since then. Though she still couldn't speak clearly, she could communicate well enough to get what she needed, and lived life as a child trapped in an adult's body.

A knock on the door drew Bastila out of her thoughts of the past, and she rose to her feet a moment before the door was palmed open.

"Good evening, Master Zhar." Bastila bowed to the Twi'lek master as he entered the room with a tray of food balanced in one hand.

"Good evening to you as well, Padawan Shan." The head of the Jedi medical center, and chief in Neurology and mental Force powers, replied formally. "Hello there, young Revan." He smiled down at the woman who had looked up from her toys as the door opened to their rooms, and was currently trying to negotiate a way out of her fort and to the food resting across the room.

"Hi!" she replied as she climbed over the couch pillows and half-ran to the tray bearing two sandwiches and a small bag of fruit snacks.

"Eat your sandwich first, Revan," Bastila admonished gently as she took the sugary snack from Revan's hand and slipped them in her pocket. "Once you're done- Rev, look at me, -" Revan met her eyes, a struggle for her since she first opened them. "Once you're done with your sandwich, tap me on my shoulder and I'll give you your snack, ok?" she had to prompt Revan twice more before she uttered a clear ok and sat down with her meal.

Zhar watched all of this calmly, noting Revan's actions and how Bastila handled them. "You've come a very long way with her." He observed as the two Jedi watched Revan arrange the silverware the way she wanted them before beginning to eat the healthy sandwich.

"I suppose so," Bastila replied after a moment, "but sometimes I despair of her ever being, you know, functional by herself again. All too soon, the fleet is going to need me, and what then? Who will take care of Revan the way I have, and who will she be as comfortable with?"

"You do not need to worry about any of that, now." Master Zhar said as a broad grin spread across his pink face. "Master Dorak has discovered a method of implanting a new personality into a person's mind in the library, and it appears that we will be able to perform it upon the return of Master Vandar from Dantooine in two days."

"That's," Bastila had to pause to wrap her mind around the concept. "Incredible! We don't even have to use a new personality for Revan! We make her herself again, and she will be who she once was! A defender of the republic, and our only hope."

But Zhar was already shaking his head in denial of her plans, and her excitement faded slowly. "The council has decided that we will not be bringing Revan back to life." Zhar said finally. "You will choose a personality for her, and we will give you a computer program that will help you craft the person you want her to be."

"But I want her to be herself…" Bastila whispered despondently as Zhar bowed once more and left. She stood there for awhile, turning the datapad containing the life of one Kassandra Rahl over and over in her hands as she thought about the lengths the council was going to for a puppet version of Revan, not a real person and asset to the Galaxy.

"Basi, Basi!" Revan was tugging at the sleeve of her tan robes, clean plate in hand as she said Bastila's nickname. "All done! I want to eat candy, pwease!" the sentence, one she said quite often, was one of the clearest strings of words in her tiny vocabulary.

"Ok, Rev," Bastila smiled as she pulled out the snack. "How many do you want?"

"All!" Revan replied with a child's indignation. How many candies did Bastila _think_ she wanted?

Bastila chuckled and handed the packet to her charge before lying down on the pillow-less couch to watch as Revan retuned to her toys. It was with mixed feelings that she finally decided on the datapad she'd been reading for the better part of the night.

_Revan is the only hope that we have against Malak,_ Bastila thought as she felt her eyes growing heavy. _But why am I so reluctant to give her up, to make her whole? _She smiled as she felt Revan climb onto the couch and snuggle close like the child she was._ These have been some of the calmest, happiest days of my life_. Were her last thoughts as she drifted to off sleep.

**A/N:** Autism is a real developmental condition that affects one out of every 500 (approximately) children in the States today, and millions of people throughout the world. Autism is not the same thing as mental retardation, and is very much the way I depicted it in this story. The causes and cures for Autism have yet to be developed, but support is needed to get the research underway. For more information on autism, go to www dot autism-society dot org slash site slash PageServer (http/ 


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